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A TONAL TAXONOMY OF CHUNGLI AO VERBS Daniel Bruhn ...

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Formatted according to the LTBA stylesheet<br />

UCB Linguistics Qualifying Paper<br />

9 February 2010<br />

A <strong>TONAL</strong> <strong>TAXONOMY</strong> <strong>OF</strong> <strong>CHUNGLI</strong> <strong>AO</strong> <strong>VERBS</strong> *<br />

<strong>Daniel</strong> <strong>Bruhn</strong><br />

University of California, Berkeley<br />

This paper presents an analysis of the tonal behaviour exhibited by verb stems in Chungli<br />

Ao, a Tibeto-Burman language of north-east India. A taxonomy of three verb classes is<br />

established based on their stem tones and their tonal interactions with certain suffixes:<br />

Class 1: H(.)L; Class 2: M(.M); Class 3: M.M which raises to H.H when combined with a<br />

L-bearing suffix. Verb stems in Classes 1 & 3 also undergo tonal alternations when<br />

concatenated with any of three “trigger-suffixes,” necessitating the further division of these<br />

stems into subclasses. In examining the behaviour of these verb stems, we posit tonal<br />

processes for Chungli Ao and develop tonological derivations of various verb forms using<br />

the representations of Autosegmental Phonology (Goldsmith 1976a, 1976b). Not all tonal<br />

phenomena in the Chungli Ao verb system fit neatly into this analysis, but the descriptive<br />

presentation is intentionally comprehensive to allow for the development of alternative<br />

analyses.<br />

Keywords: Tibeto-Burman, Naga, Chungli, Ao, tone, verb, morphology, taxonomy,<br />

classification, linguistics<br />

1. INTRODUCTION<br />

1.1. Purpose<br />

The purpose of this paper is to present an investigation of tonal phenomena in the<br />

verbal morphology of Chungli Ao and to formulate a taxonomy of verbs based on<br />

their tonal behaviour. Representations are couched in the framework of<br />

Autosegmental Phonology (Goldsmith 1976a, 1976b) and some constraints are<br />

proposed, though the approach taken here is motivated by a desire to produce a<br />

comprehensive description and a workable analysis of the data rather than<br />

vindicate any particular theory.<br />

Background information on Chungli Ao can be found in the next subsection<br />

(1.1). Section 2 presents a sketch of the phonological inventory of Chungli Ao,<br />

while Section 3 introduces the basic segmental & tonal properties of its verb<br />

morphology. Section 4 constitutes the bulk of the paper, presenting a proposal for<br />

three verb stem classes and describing their respective tonal behaviour. A<br />

discussion of the special tonal properties of vowel-final stems is found in Section<br />

5, and the paper is concluded in Section 6. Appendix A contains a short glossary<br />

of specialized terms introduced in this paper, and Appendix B includes tables<br />

*<br />

Special thanks to Larry Hyman, Alice Gaby, and Russell Rhodes for their advice and<br />

assistance in conducting this research, and most of all to Moa Imchen, our Chungli Ao<br />

consultant. Kanga pelar!<br />

1


2<br />

<strong>Daniel</strong> <strong>Bruhn</strong><br />

summarizing the tonal taxonomy developed here. The corpus of 204 verb with<br />

their stem classifications can be found in Appendix C.<br />

1.1. Chungli Ao<br />

Chungli Ao is the prestige dialect of Ao, a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in<br />

Nagaland, a hill state in north-east India. Chungli Ao speakers number around<br />

90,000, while the related dialect of Mongsen Ao has approximately 70,000<br />

speakers (Coupe 2008). Although genetic classification of the so-called “Naga”<br />

languages is far from settled, a recent tentative attempt categorizes these two<br />

dialects of Ao with the languages of Yacham-Tengsa, Sangtam, Yimchungrü, and<br />

Lotha to form the “Ao Group” (Burling 2003).<br />

Most of the linguistic work on the Chungli variety of Ao is from the late 19 th –<br />

early 20 th century, consisting of a missionary grammar (Clark 1893), a<br />

voluminous (977pp.) Ao-English dictionary (Clark 1911), and a short (23pp.)<br />

grammatical description (Avery 1886). None of these publications, however,<br />

depicts tone. More recent works by Gowda include a phonetic reader designed<br />

for non-native speakers and a sketch grammar (Gowda 1972, 1975). Both of<br />

these works include indications of three tone levels, but lack a detailed analysis<br />

of tonal phenomena.<br />

The previously-neglected Mongsen variety has received more attention in<br />

recent years with the publication of Coupe’s phonetic and phonological<br />

description of Mongsen Ao as spoken in Waromung village (Coupe 2003), which<br />

contains detailed phonetic measurements of segmental and tonal phenomena.<br />

Coupe’s most thorough work, however, is a 526-page grammar of Mongsen Ao<br />

as spoken in Mangmetong village (Coupe 2007). This publication contains a<br />

short chapter devoted to prosody, describing lexical & morphological tone, tone<br />

sandhi, and intonation in Mongsen Ao. Although Coupe presents a few examples<br />

of internal tone sandhi triggered by verbal morphology, he concludes with the<br />

disclaimer that a detailed analysis of these patterns “lies outside the scope of the<br />

present work” (2007: 72).<br />

2. PHONOLOGICAL INVENTORY<br />

For the purpose of familiarizing the reader with the language discussed here, the<br />

following sections present the phonological inventory of Chungli Ao.


2.1. Consonants<br />

A Tonal Taxonomy of Chungli Ao Verbs<br />

Table 1 displays the consonant inventory of Chungli Ao:<br />

Bilabial Dental/Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal Velar Glottal<br />

Nasal stops m n ŋ<br />

Oral stops p, pʰ t, tʰ k, kʰ ʔ<br />

Affricates ts tʃ<br />

Fricatives s, z ʃ (h)<br />

Approximants w ɹ, l j<br />

Table 1. Chungli Ao consonants<br />

The glottal stop phoneme is contrastive (e.g. a³-ŋu¹ ‘saw’ vs. a³-ŋuʔʔʔʔ¹ ‘bit’) but<br />

has limited distribution and only appears word-finally, disappearing with the<br />

addition of suffixes (e.g. a³-ŋu¹-taŋ¹ ‘while biting’).<br />

Although aspirated stops are included in Table 1 for the sake of completeness,<br />

aspiration in Chungli Ao is marginal and is contrastive on very few words (e.g.<br />

taŋ³ ‘now’ vs. tʰaŋ³ ‘only’).<br />

The voiceless glottal fricative /h/ is restricted to syllable onsets and appears<br />

only in hauʔ¹ ‘yes’, haiʔ¹ ‘okay’, ha³tʃi¹ ‘sneezed’, and some loanwords.<br />

2.2. Vowels<br />

Table 2 lists the vowel phonemes:<br />

Front Central Back<br />

High i u<br />

Mid ə<br />

Low a<br />

Table 2. Chungli Ao vowels<br />

The central vowel phoneme /ə/ has numerous allophonic realizations in the<br />

vowel space from [ɛ], to [ʌ], to [ɨ], depending on the surrounding phonetic<br />

environment 1 .<br />

The only monosyllabic diphthongs that appear are /ai/, /au/, and /ui/.<br />

1 The exact details of these allophones are still being worked out, but the most obvious<br />

allophonic variation is the expression of /ə/ as [ɨ] after /ts/ or /z/.<br />

3


4<br />

2.3. Syllable structure<br />

<strong>Daniel</strong> <strong>Bruhn</strong><br />

The following table displays the attested syllable structures in Chungli Ao:<br />

2.4. Tones<br />

Structure Example<br />

CV ma²ma² ma ma ma ‘breast’<br />

CVV kui kui³¹ kui kui ‘how many?’<br />

CVC rrrrəəəəpppp²raŋ² ‘looked at’<br />

V uuuu² ‘word’<br />

VV ai² ai ai ai<br />

‘went in’<br />

VC əəəənnnn²tuk² ‘threw’<br />

VVC aun² aun aun aun ‘curry’<br />

Table 3. Chungli Ao syllable structures<br />

Chungli Ao exhibits a register tone system 2 . The tone-bearing unit is the syllable,<br />

and three tone levels exist: high (H), mid (M), and low (L). The H tone has a<br />

limited distribution among bare stems, and usually appears before a L tone in a<br />

disyllabic H.L pattern 3 or monosyllabic HL contour. The only underlying contour<br />

tones on monosyllables are HL (e.g. am³¹ ‘held’) and LM (e.g. pəɹ¹² ‘snake’),<br />

while derived HM contours can surface when underlying HL is followed by a<br />

syllable bearing M or H (e.g. am³²-aŋ² ‘hold!’).<br />

Among all word classes, the most common tone patterns for disyllables are<br />

M.M and H.L, with L.L, L.M, & M.H attested but less common. M.L and H.H<br />

patterns are very rare and/or marginal 4 . These facts are summarized in Table 4:<br />

2<br />

See Hyman 2007 for a description of another register system in the contour-saturated area of<br />

Southeast Asia.<br />

3<br />

Throughout this paper, periods represent syllable boundaries, while dashes indicate morpheme<br />

boundaries.<br />

4<br />

For more on lexical tone in Chungli Ao, see Rhodes 2009.


A Tonal Taxonomy of Chungli Ao Verbs<br />

Pattern Example<br />

common M.M a²tən² ‘sang’<br />

H.L a³zə¹ ‘blood’<br />

less common L.L u¹zə¹ ‘bird’<br />

L.M ka¹kət² ‘book’<br />

M.H sa²juʔ³ ‘taught’<br />

rare/marginal M.L tiŋ²la¹ ‘marrow’<br />

H.H u³zə³ ‘our (exclusive)’<br />

Table 4. Disyllabic tone patterns across word classes<br />

Surface tones are indicated in this paper by superscripted tone numbers that<br />

appear after each syllable, where 3 is high and 1 is low, e.g. ɹəp²ɹaŋ²-taɹ³¹ (M.M-<br />

HL) ‘is now watching’ 5 . Underlying tones, where not depicted with<br />

autosegmental notation, are represented with superscripted M, H, and L, e.g.<br />

/-tsə L / (irrealis suffix).<br />

3. VERB MORPHOLOGY<br />

3.1. Segmental<br />

Chungli Ao verbs lack person and number marking, and the agglutinative verbal<br />

morphology conforms to the scheme shown in Table 5, in which the stem is the<br />

only obligatory element 6 :<br />

PREFIX – STEM – LEXICAL SUFFIX – DERIV. SUFFIX(ES) – INFLEC. SUFFIX<br />

mə- NEG -maʔ ‘completely’ -tsəʔ BEN -tsə IRR<br />

tə- PROH -ət ‘persistently’ -təp RECIP -əɹ PRES<br />

etc. etc. etc.<br />

Table 5. Chungli Ao verbal morphology<br />

Verb stems fall into two major types: B-stems, consisting of a bare verb root<br />

(e.g. /tʃa M tʃa M / ‘walk’), and A-stems, composed of a verb root with a<br />

semantically-empty a-prefix (e.g. /a M -sə M / ‘die’) 7 . This verbal prefix, which does<br />

not appear in Mongsen Ao, appears to be a reflex of the Proto-Tibeto-Burman<br />

glottal prefix *ʔa-, whose reflexes in various languages have a number of<br />

5 Since Chungli Ao verbs lack person or number marking, glosses that illustrate a tense-aspectmood<br />

(TAM) inflection with the 3 rd person singular should be interpreted as extending to the<br />

entire person/number paradigm.<br />

6 This diagram holds for both finite and non-finite forms.<br />

7 It may be helpful to think of A-stems as “a-prefixed roots” and B-stems as “bare roots.”<br />

5


6<br />

<strong>Daniel</strong> <strong>Bruhn</strong><br />

semantic functions (Matisoff 2003, p.c.). In Chungli Ao, however, the a-prefix<br />

serves no apparent semantic function.<br />

The a-prefix disappears upon the addition of certain verbal morphemes, such<br />

as the present-perfect suffix /-u H ku M / (e.g. a²-ɹəm² ‘buried’ but -ɹəm²-u³ku² ‘has<br />

buried’). With respect to this a-stripping behaviour, the verbal suffixes that<br />

appear in this paper are categorized as follows 8 :<br />

a-Preserving a-Stripping<br />

-tsə IRREALIS -aŋ IMPERATIVE<br />

-əɹ PRES -taɹ IMMED.PRES<br />

-uku PRES.PERF<br />

Table 6. Relevant a-preserving and a-stripping verbal suffixes<br />

Finally, verb stems are predominantly disyllabic, although there are a few<br />

monosyllabic stems and even fewer trisyllabic stems (e.g. /a M səŋ M taŋ M / ‘ask’).<br />

The monosyllabic stems typically consist of single-vowel roots prefixed with a-<br />

(e.g. /a M -u M / ‘go’) or unprefixed monosyllabic roots with coda consonants (e.g.<br />

/aɹ M / ‘sew’ 9 ).<br />

3.2. Tonal<br />

The aforementioned a-prefix undergoes a particular tonal alternation, surfacing<br />

as H before a L verb root but M before a M root, as illustrated with the following<br />

preterite forms 10 :<br />

(1) a³-ləp¹ a³ a³ a³ ‘cut’<br />

(2) a²-kuŋ² a² a² a² ‘crowed’<br />

This tonal alternation suggests the existence of a word-internal, dissimilatory<br />

upstep process in which a syllable bearing underlying M is realized as H when<br />

concatenated (through some morphological process) with a following syllable<br />

bearing L 11 . This upstep may be motivated by a general constraint against ML<br />

tone patterns in Chungli Ao, given that disyllabic M.L patterns are extremely<br />

marginal and monosyllabic ML contours are non-existent across all word classes.<br />

For reasons that will become clear later (see Section 4.5), it is preferable to treat<br />

this process not as a surface phonetic effect, nor as a simple phonological rule,<br />

but as an automatic repair driven by a constraint against M-L sequences that is<br />

active at every step in the tonological derivation. Upstep can thus be<br />

8 Other a-stripping affixes not discussed here include: prohibitive tə-, sequential converb -əɹ,<br />

simultaneous converb -a, permissive -ti, causative -taktsəʔ, desiderative -nəɹ, benefactive -tsəʔ,<br />

and various lexical suffixes.<br />

9 The [a] in /aɹ M / never drops out, and thus is not an a-prefix.<br />

10 The preterite form of a verb is simply the surface form of the unsuffixed stem.<br />

11 Upstep in Chungli Ao mimics a similar process in the Engenni language of Nigeria (Niger-<br />

Congo; Thomas 1974, 1978), with the exception that upstep in Chungli Ao is strictly wordinternal<br />

and does not operate across phrases.


A Tonal Taxonomy of Chungli Ao Verbs<br />

conceptualized as a magnetic force: When a M tone is concatenated with a<br />

following L tone by some process during the derivation of a word, an opposing<br />

force automatically activates to “push” M up to H.<br />

The following table portrays the Chungli Ao tone system as hypothesized<br />

here 12 :<br />

Underlying tones Automatic repair Surface tones<br />

L, M, H M → H / __ L<br />

(upstep)<br />

L, M, H<br />

Table 7. Chungli Ao tone system<br />

The behaviour of the a-prefix can now be captured by positing an underlying<br />

M tone on /a-/, which surfaces as H before a monosyllabic verb root bearing L<br />

(due to upstep), but retains M before M. This is illustrated as follows:<br />

(3) /a M -ləp L / → (upstep) → a³-ləp¹ ‘cut’<br />

(4) /a M -kuŋ M / → a²-kuŋ² ‘crowed’<br />

The upstep process developed here also proves useful in analysing other tonal<br />

phenomena in Chungli Ao, as we will see shortly.<br />

4. STEM TONE CLASSES<br />

4.1. Base of Classification<br />

If one focuses on verb roots, there are a multitude of different classes that could<br />

be formed based on root size, tone, and the type of verb stem to which the root<br />

belongs (A-stem/B-stem) 13 :<br />

Root size Root tone Stem type Example Stem tone<br />

σ L A-stem /aH-ləpL / ‘cut’ H.L<br />

σ HL B-stem /a HL / ‘earn’ HL<br />

σ.σ H.L B-stem /ki ki H L lak lak / ‘tickle’ H.L<br />

σ M A-stem /aM-səM / ‘die’ M.M<br />

σ.σ M.M B-stem /pu pu MʃiM / ‘search for’ M.M<br />

σ.σ M.H B-stem /sa sa sa M H<br />

ju juʔ ju<br />

/ ‘taught’ M.H<br />

σ.σ L.M B-stem /kaLzəM / ‘spend time’ L.M<br />

σ LM B-stem /aɹLM / ‘sew’ LM<br />

σ.σ.σ M.M.M B-stem /aMsəŋM M ta taŋ ta<br />

/ ‘ask’ M.M.M<br />

Table 8. Partial classification based on roots<br />

12 One might also analyse this type of system as consisting of underlying L, H, and Ø, with Ø<br />

realized as H before L and defaulting to M elsewhere (cf. the treatment of Engenni in Hyman<br />

2001). At the present, however, the introduction of a zero tone into the current analysis of<br />

Chungli Ao would appear to be an unnecessary complication with little explanatory advantage.<br />

13 Recall that for A-stems, stem = a-prefix + root; while for B-stems, stem = root.<br />

7


8<br />

<strong>Daniel</strong> <strong>Bruhn</strong><br />

A less unwieldy and more practical approach, however, takes as its starting<br />

point the stem patterns shown in the rightmost column, which show a greater<br />

similarity to each other than do the roots. In addition, for most of the tonal<br />

morphology, verb stems formed from a-prefixed roots (A-stems) pattern with<br />

those consisting of bare roots (B-stems). For these reasons, it is more productive<br />

to develop a taxonomy of verbs based on stems rather than roots, establishing<br />

subclasses as necessary to deal with any tonal behaviour that distinguishes among<br />

members of a single stem class.<br />

Accordingly, the following table presents a list of all the stem tone patterns in<br />

Chungli Ao with their rate of occurrence in a corpus of 204 verbs (see Appendix<br />

C). (Note that the rates of occurrence add up to more than 100% because certain<br />

verbs exhibit more than one stem tone pattern.)<br />

Tone pattern Occurrence<br />

H.L, HL 42%<br />

M.M, M 55%<br />

M.H 2.5%<br />

L.M, LM 2.5%<br />

M.M.M 1.5%<br />

Table 9. Stem tone patterns<br />

Of the five possible stem classes in Table 9, the two most common are those<br />

bearing the patterns H(.)L and M(.M) 14 . However, an examination of the tonal<br />

behaviour of these two main patterns with the addition of suffixal morphology<br />

yields three types of verb stems, dividing the M(.M) class in two. This separation<br />

into three classes based on tonal morphology is illustrated with the irrealis<br />

suffix -tsə in the following table (note that stem tone patterns are illustrated here<br />

with unsuffixed preterites):<br />

14 The notation H(.)L is meant to represent both the disyllabic H.L pattern and the monosyllabic<br />

HL contour, while M(.M) denotes both disyllabic M.M and monosyllabic M.


A Tonal Taxonomy of Chungli Ao Verbs<br />

Stem tone pattern Irrealis pattern Class<br />

H(.)L<br />

am³¹ ‘held<br />

pi³ləm¹ ‘thought’<br />

M(.M)<br />

aɹ² ‘sewed’<br />

a²-ɹəm² ‘buried’<br />

phu²a² ‘charmed’<br />

a²-tʃəp² ‘cried’<br />

H(.)L-L<br />

am³¹-tsə¹ ‘hold-IRR’<br />

pi³ləm¹-tsə¹ ‘think-IRR’<br />

M(.M)-H<br />

aɹ²-tsə³ ‘sew-IRR’<br />

a²-ɹəm²-tsə³ ‘bury-IRR’<br />

H.H-L<br />

phu³a³-tsə¹ ‘be charmed-IRR’<br />

a³-tʃəp³-tsə¹ ‘cry-IRR’<br />

Table 10. Stem classes based on tonal behaviour<br />

As Table 10 shows, the two main verb stem patterns can be distributed into<br />

three classes based on stem and suffix tones 15 : Class 1, with an unvarying H(.)L<br />

stem tone pattern and L tone on the irrealis suffix; Class 2, with an unvarying<br />

M(.M) stem tone pattern and H tone on the irrealis suffix; and Class 3, with a<br />

M(.M) bare stem tone pattern that changes to H(.H) upon attachment of the<br />

irrealis suffix, which itself bears a L tone.<br />

The rare 16 stem types from Table 9 also pattern with these major classes, as<br />

shown:<br />

Stem tone Irrealis pattern Class<br />

L.M L.M-H 2<br />

LM LM-H 2<br />

M.M.M M.M.M-H 2<br />

M.H M.H-L 3<br />

Table 11. Rare stem type patterning<br />

With these three verb stem classes established, the following sections examine<br />

each class from an autosegmental perspective, presenting explanations for tonal<br />

behaviour manifested in the context of various verbal suffixes and establishing<br />

subclasses as necessary.<br />

15 In the verb corpus, Class 1 verbs constitute 42%, Class 2 verbs 38%, and Class 3 verbs 20%.<br />

16 “Rare” means 1-3 tokens of each.<br />

1<br />

2<br />

3<br />

9


10<br />

4.2. Class 1 (H.L, HL)<br />

4.2.1. Stem, irrealis, & present<br />

<strong>Daniel</strong> <strong>Bruhn</strong><br />

Class 1 is composed of verb stems bearing disyllabic H.L tone patterns and<br />

monosyllabic HL contours. Any Class 1 verb stem is either 1) an A-stem, formed<br />

by the M-bearing a-prefix combined with a L root, or 2) a B-stem, consisting of a<br />

bare root bearing a H(.)L tone pattern. While both types surface with the same<br />

H(.)L tone pattern, the A-stems differ in bearing an underlying M-L pattern,<br />

which activates the upstep process to yield surface H-L:<br />

Stem type Underlying form Surface form (preterite)<br />

1A<br />

(A-stem: a-prefixed root)<br />

1B<br />

(B-stem: bare root)<br />

M-L<br />

e.g. a M -/ləp L /<br />

H(.)L<br />

e.g. /a H ru L /<br />

/tsək HL /<br />

H-L (upstepped)<br />

a³-ləp¹ ‘cut’<br />

H(.)L<br />

a³ɹu¹ ‘came’<br />

tsək³¹ ‘fell’<br />

Table 12. Class 1 stem subtypes based on a-prefix<br />

Upon suffixation of irrealis /-tsə L / or present /-əɹ L / (which are both assumed to<br />

bear an underlying L tone), the adjacent L tones fuse to satisfy the Obligatory<br />

Contour Principle (OCP). This process is illustrated below with a B-stem in (5)<br />

and an A-stem in (6) 17 :<br />

(5) /a ɹu/ -tsə → a³ ɹu¹ -tsə¹ ‘come-IRR’<br />

| | | fusion |<br />

H L L H L<br />

(6) a- /ləp/ → /a- ləp/ -əɹ → a³- ləp¹ -əɹ¹ ‘cuts’<br />

| | upstep | | | fusion |<br />

M L H L L H L<br />

4.2.2. Trigger-suffixed A-stems<br />

The tonal behaviour of Class 1 verbs becomes more complex when the<br />

immediate-present /-taɹ HL /, imperative /-aŋ M /, and present-perfect /-u H ku M /<br />

suffixes are considered. For an A-stem, concatenation with any of these triggers<br />

loss of the a-prefix. In addition, these three suffixes cause the verb stem to<br />

undergo various tonal alternations. (The term trigger-suffix will be used from this<br />

point on to refer to any one of these suffixes.)<br />

17 An upstepped tone is represented by a boldfaced H in the examples throughout this paper.


A Tonal Taxonomy of Chungli Ao Verbs<br />

When a Class 1 A-stem is combined with a trigger-suffix and is stripped of its<br />

a-prefix, the resulting de-prefixed root emerges with either 1) its underlying L<br />

tone unchanged, or 2) a M tone 18 . This tonal behaviour is illustrated in the<br />

following table 19 :<br />

Example:<br />

Stem type Alternate stem tone stem trigger-suffixed<br />

1A1 L<br />

1A2 M<br />

/a H -mən L /<br />

‘sit down’<br />

/a H -lət L /<br />

‘scald’<br />

Table 13. Class 1 A-stem subclasses<br />

-mmmməəəən¹ n¹-taɹ³¹ n¹ n¹ ‘is now sitting’<br />

-mmmməəəən¹ n¹-aŋ² n¹ n¹ ‘sit!’<br />

-mmmməəəən¹ n¹-u³ku² n¹ n¹ ‘has sat’<br />

-lllləəəət² t²-taɹ³¹ t² t² ‘is now scalding’<br />

-lllləəəət² t²-aŋ² t² t² ‘scald!’<br />

-lllləəəət² t²-u³ku² t² t² ‘has scalded’<br />

Most 1A stems belong unambiguously to a single subclass (e.g. the two<br />

example verbs in Table 13), but a few exhibit what might be called “chimeric”<br />

behaviour. For example, when the verb stem /a H -saŋ L / ‘bark’ is trigger-suffixed,<br />

the tone on its de-prefixed root emerges as L, M, or L depending on the triggersuffix:<br />

(7) -sa saŋŋŋŋ¹¹¹¹----taɹ³¹ sa sa<br />

‘is now barking’<br />

(8) -sa saŋŋŋŋ²²²²-aŋ² sa sa<br />

‘bark!’<br />

(9) -sa saŋŋŋŋ¹¹¹¹-u³ku² sa sa<br />

‘has barked’<br />

A verb stem such as /a H -saŋ L /, therefore, cannot be said to belong to any single<br />

subclass, as the tones that appear on its de-prefixed root are not identical across<br />

all three trigger-suffixed forms. (See the list of verbs in Appendix C for more<br />

chimeras.)<br />

4.2.3. Trigger-suffixed B-stems<br />

When a trigger-suffix is concatenated with a Class 1 B-stem, there is no a-prefix<br />

to be lost. The verb stem does undergo a tonal alternation, however, emerging as<br />

L(.)L, L(.)M, M(.)M, H(.)L, or H(.)M. This collection of five tone patterns seems<br />

rather unwieldy at first, but it can be collapsed into a more manageable set of<br />

three based on the following observation: If a stem is disyllabic or bears a tone<br />

contour, the second tone of the stem appears particularly susceptible to<br />

18 It is interesting to note that, based on the corpus of verbs collected for this research, more<br />

Class 1 de-prefixed roots surface with a M tone than with their underlying L intact.<br />

19 The classification of a particular verb stem is indicated by a sequence such as 1A2, where the<br />

first character is a number indicating the major class, the second is the letter A or B (signifying<br />

A-stem/B-stem), and the third is a number indicating the subclass.<br />

11


12<br />

<strong>Daniel</strong> <strong>Bruhn</strong><br />

coarticulation effects. For example, the 1B stem /zə H lu L / ‘write’ surfaces as L.L<br />

when suffixed with immediate-present /-taɹ HL / (10) or imperative /-aŋ M / (11), but<br />

as L.M when suffixed with present-perfect /-u H ku M / (12):<br />

(10) zə¹lu¹-taɹ³¹ ‘is now writing’<br />

(11) zə¹lu¹-aŋ² ‘write!’<br />

(12) zə¹lu² lu²-u³ku² lu² lu² ‘has written’<br />

Given the consistent L.L stem patterns in (10) & (11), the stem pattern in (12) is<br />

likely also an underlying L.L that has been phonetically “pulled up” to L.M next<br />

to the suffixal H in the environment of vowel hiatus.<br />

Another example of this stem-final tone variability involves a 1B stem such as<br />

/in H jak L / ‘work’, which can surface in its trigger-suffixed form as either H.L or<br />

H.M:<br />

(13) in³jak¹ jak¹-taɹ³¹ jak¹ jak¹ / in³jak² jak²-taɹ³¹ jak² jak² ‘is now working’<br />

Due to the prevalence of such coarticulation effects, it is difficult to<br />

distinguish true phonological H(.)M and L(.)M stem tone patterns (if they exist)<br />

from H(.)L and L(.)L patterns that surface phonetically as H(.)M and L(.)M next<br />

to a suffix. For this reason, it is most expedient to combine apparent H(.)M<br />

patterns with H(.)L, and L(.)M with L(.)L. The aforementioned five B-stem<br />

trigger-suffixed tone patterns thus simplify into three subclasses, illustrated in the<br />

following table:<br />

Example:<br />

Stem type Alternate stem tone stem trigger-suffixed<br />

1B1 L(.)L / L(.)M<br />

1B2 M(.)M<br />

1B3 H(.)L / H(.)M<br />

/a H ɹak L /<br />

‘choke’<br />

/mə H səp L /<br />

‘suck’<br />

/mə H su L /<br />

‘lift up’<br />

Table 14. Class 1 B-stem subclasses<br />

a¹ɹɹɹɹak¹ a¹ a¹ a¹ ak¹-taɹ³¹ ak¹ ak¹ ‘is now choking’<br />

a¹ɹɹɹɹak¹ a¹ a¹ a¹ ak¹-aŋ² ak¹ ak¹ ‘choke!’<br />

a¹rak a¹rak²²²²-u³ku² a¹rak a¹rak ‘has choked’<br />

mmmməəəə²²²²ssssəəəəp² p²-taɹ³¹ p² p² ‘is now sucking’<br />

mmmməəəə²s ²səəəəp² ²s ²s p²-aŋ² p² p² ‘suck!’<br />

mmmməəəə²s ²səəəəp² ²s ²s p²-u³ku² p² p² ‘has sucked’<br />

mmmməəəə³su² ³su² ³su²-taɹ³¹ ³su² ‘is now lifting up’<br />

mmmməəəə³su¹ ³su¹ ³su¹-aŋ² ³su¹ ‘lift up!’<br />

mmmməəəə³su¹ ³su¹ ³su¹-u³ku² ³su¹ ‘has lifted up’<br />

As was the case with the A-stems, a few 1B stems are chimera verbs which act<br />

like members of multiple subclasses, such as /mə H sə L / ‘comb’:<br />

(14) mmmməəəə²s ²səəəə²²²²-taɹ³¹ ²s ²s<br />

(M.M, 1B2) ‘is now combing’<br />

(15) mmmməəəə³³³³ssssəəəə¹¹¹¹-aŋ² (H.L, 1B3) ‘comb!’


A Tonal Taxonomy of Chungli Ao Verbs<br />

(16) mmmməəəə³³³³ssssəəəə¹¹¹¹-u³ku² (H.L, 1B3) ‘has combed’<br />

Three anomalous 1B stems are also worth mentioning: The 1B1 verbs (with<br />

L(.)L/L(.)M alternate stem tone patterns) /a H lu L / ‘come down’, /a H ɹu L / ‘come’,<br />

and /a H tu L / ‘come up’ all appear in the imperative suffixed with [-ŋ²] instead of<br />

[-aŋ²]:<br />

(17) a¹lu-ŋ² ‘come down!’<br />

(18) a¹ɹu-ŋ² ‘come!’<br />

(19) a¹tu-ŋ² ‘come up!’<br />

All other /u/-final stems form the imperative by suffixation with [-aŋ²] (e.g.<br />

zə¹lu¹-aŋ² ‘write!’), so the loss of suffix-initial /a/ here cannot simply be<br />

attributed to a constraint against /u-a/ vowel hiatus. The fact that these three<br />

verbs exhibit identical behaviour is likely due to some synchronic or diachronic<br />

relationship, given the unquestionable similarities among their glosses and forms.<br />

However, a reasonable explanation for their omission of suffix-initial /a/ cannot<br />

be posited based on the existing data.<br />

Thus far, the treatment of Class 1 verbs here is long on description and short<br />

on analysis. Given the tonal alternations exhibited by Class 1 verb stems (not to<br />

mention the chimera verbs!) and the fact that collection of additional data<br />

continues to yield more verbs with erratic tonal behaviour, a synchronic analysis<br />

that goes beyond mere stipulation is not possible at this time, no matter the<br />

theoretical framework. It may be the case that these tonal phenomena cannot be<br />

truly understood without a diachronic investigation – a venture that must await<br />

better historical analyses of the “Naga” languages.<br />

4.3. Class 2 (M.M, M)<br />

4.3.1. Stem<br />

If Class 1 is the bizarre “Mr. Hyde” of the Chungli Ao verb system, then Class 2<br />

is its Dr. Jekyll. Verb stems in this class bear disyllabic M.M or monosyllabic M<br />

and are uniform in their tonal behaviour under trigger-suffixation, undergoing no<br />

stem tone alternations whatsoever. (Class 2 therefore has no subclasses.) A-stem<br />

and B-stem examples are shown in the following table:<br />

13


14<br />

Example:<br />

<strong>Daniel</strong> <strong>Bruhn</strong><br />

Stem type stem trigger-suffixed<br />

2A<br />

2B<br />

/a M -ləm M /<br />

‘hand out’<br />

/ɹəp M ɹaŋ M /<br />

‘watch’<br />

-lllləəəəm² m²-taɹ³¹ m² m² ‘is now handing out’<br />

-lllləəəəm² m²-aŋ² m² m² ‘hand out!’<br />

-lllləəəəm² m²-u³ku² m² m² ‘has handed out’<br />

ɹɹɹɹəəəəp²ra p²ra p²raŋŋŋŋ²²²²-taɹ³¹ p²ra ‘is now watching’<br />

ɹɹɹɹəəəəp² p²ɹɹɹɹaaaaŋŋŋŋ²²²²-aŋ² p² p²<br />

‘watch!’<br />

ɹɹɹɹəəəəp²ra p²ra p²raŋŋŋŋ²²²²-u³ku² p²ra ‘has watched’<br />

Table 15. Class 2 verb stems<br />

With that said, it should be noted that a few 2B stems exhibit ambiguity 20<br />

between a M(.)M and a L(.)M tone pattern (e.g. a²ki² / a¹ki² ‘took’ and aɹ² / aɹ¹²<br />

‘sewed’). In each of these stems, the nucleus of the first syllable is /a/, which is<br />

the lowest vowel phoneme in the Chungli Ao inventory. The appearance of L on<br />

this syllable may therefore be related to the phenomenon of intrinsic F0, given<br />

that low vowels show a tendency to have a lower pitch than high vowels (see e.g.<br />

Meyer 1896-1897 and the extensive references in Whalen & Levitt 1995). This is<br />

not a deterministic connection in Chungli Ao, however, since the Class 2 verbs<br />

that exhibit this ambiguity comprise only a small subset of all verbs with /a/ in<br />

the initial syllable. It may therefore be the case that the appearance of this limited<br />

M(.)M/L(.)M alternation is the result of some current phonologization process<br />

which takes intrinsic F0 as its starting point.<br />

An additional quirk of the otherwise-normal Class 2 is the existence of two<br />

verbs that show free variation between A-stem and B-stem types. When<br />

combined with a trigger-suffix, loss of the initial /a/ from the verbs a²laŋ² ‘cut in<br />

half’ and a²səm² ‘ran’ is surprisingly optional. This is depicted in the following<br />

table. (Note that the B-stem types show the M(.)M/L(.)M pattern ambiguity<br />

discussed in the previous paragraph.)<br />

20 “Ambiguity” is perhaps the best way to describe tonal behaviour that, depending on the<br />

particular elicitation session, is: 1) clearly L.M, 2) clearly M.M, 3) in free variation between<br />

L.M and M.M, or 4) somewhere between L.M and M.M in pitch levels.


A Tonal Taxonomy of Chungli Ao Verbs<br />

Verb Stem Trigger-suffixed<br />

a²laŋ²<br />

‘cut in half’<br />

a²səm²<br />

‘ran’<br />

A-stem: /a M -laŋ M / -laŋ²-aŋ² ‘cut in half!’<br />

B-stem: /a M laŋ M / aaaa¹laŋ²-aŋ ‘cut in half!’<br />

A-stem: /a M -səm M / -səm²-aŋ² ‘run!’<br />

B-stem: /a M səm M / aaaa¹səm²-aŋ² ‘run!’<br />

Table 16. A/B-stem ambiguous Class 2 verbs<br />

This optionality may be evidence of morphological reanalysis in progress, in<br />

which some /a/-initial B-stems are being reanalysed as A-stems, or vice versa.<br />

4.3.2. Irrealis, present, & preterite<br />

While the idiosyncrasies of the Class 1 verb stems involved the trigger-suffixes,<br />

the most interesting behaviour of Class 2 stems concerns suffixation of irrealis<br />

/-tsə L / and present /-əɹ L /. These two suffixes both surface as L when affixed to<br />

Class 1 verb stems (as shown previously in examples (5) and (6)). In<br />

concatenation with Class 2 stems, however, the irrealis suffix bears a H tone and<br />

the present suffix bears a HL contour:<br />

Underlying suffix Stem class Surface tone Example<br />

/-tsə L / (irrealis)<br />

/-əɹ L / (present)<br />

1 L<br />

2 H<br />

1 L<br />

2 HL<br />

a³ɹak¹-ts tsəəəə¹¹¹¹ ts ts<br />

‘choke-IRR’<br />

a²maŋ²-ts tsəəəə³³³³ ts ts<br />

‘believe-IRR’<br />

a³ɹak¹-əɹ əɹ¹¹¹¹ əɹ əɹ<br />

‘chokes’<br />

a²maŋ²-əɹ əɹ³¹ əɹ əɹ³¹<br />

³¹ ³¹<br />

‘believes’<br />

Table 17. Irrealis and present suffixes with Class 1 vs. Class 2 stems<br />

If the irrealis and present suffixes indeed both bear underlying L (as assumed),<br />

then the manifestation of H and HL on their surface forms, respectively, is good<br />

evidence for the existence of a floating H tone to the right of all Class 2 verb<br />

stems. Through High-tone spreading (HTS), this floating H would delink the L of<br />

/-tsə L / to yield -tsə³ but combine with the L of /-əɹ L / to form -əɹ³¹.<br />

The problem with this analysis is that it cannot explain what happens to the<br />

alleged floating H when the verb stem is suffixed with the imperative /-aŋ M /,<br />

surfacing as M(.M)-M with no H in sight (e.g. ɹəp²ɹaŋ²-aŋ² ‘watch!’). For this<br />

15


16<br />

<strong>Daniel</strong> <strong>Bruhn</strong><br />

reason, it is preferable to treat the floating tone that accompanies Class 2 verb<br />

stems as M, which is upstepped to H before the L of /-tsə L / and /-əɹ L /. HTS then<br />

occurs to link the floating H with the suffix. These processes are illustrated in the<br />

following examples, with the irrealis suffix in (20) and the present suffix in (21):<br />

(20) /mənəm/ -tsə → /mənəm -tsə/ → /mənəm -tsə/<br />

| upstep | HTS |<br />

M M L M H L M H L<br />

→ /mənəm -tsə/ → mə²nəm² -tsə³ ‘smell-IRR’<br />

L-delinking = |<br />

& deletion M H L →Ø M H<br />

(21) /mənəm/ -əɹ → /mənəm -əɹ/ → mə²nəm² -əɹ³¹ ‘smells’<br />

| upstep | HTS<br />

M M L M H L M H L<br />

In (20), the delinking of L from /-tsə L / (rather than the formation of a HL<br />

contour) is likely due to a requirement that derived contours be linked to a<br />

syllable which is minimally bimoraic 21 , thus prohibiting -tsə³¹. This hypothetical<br />

constraint is supported by the total lack of derived contours on other monomoraic<br />

syllables in Chungli Ao.<br />

Because upstep is activated at any step in the derivation containing a M-L<br />

sequence, upstep bleeds tone-fusion in (20) & (21) when the suffix is introduced<br />

into the input. Otherwise, the floating M would fuse with the linked M of the<br />

verb stem (to satisfy the OCP) before it could undergo upstep to H. With Astems,<br />

however, an initial stem-level fusion process takes place to fuse the M<br />

tone of the prefix with that of the root, before the stem is concatenated with a<br />

suffix. To prevent the stem-final floating M tone from fusing with the linked<br />

tones at this stage, we stipulate that the stem-level tone-fusion process only<br />

affects tones linked to segments, leaving floating tones alone. As a result, the<br />

floating M tone is still present in the input to the suffixation-cycle (or word-level<br />

cycle), allowing it to undergo upstep when concatenated with a L-bearing suffix.<br />

The derivation of a present-suffixed 2A stem, which includes this stem-level<br />

fusion process, is illustrated below:<br />

(22) a- /kuŋ/ → /akuŋ/ -əɹ → /akuŋ -əɹ/<br />

| | fusion | upstep |<br />

M M M (linked tones) M M L M H L<br />

21 It may be the case that the only apparently-monomoraic HL verb (a³¹ ‘earned’) actually<br />

contains a long vowel (making it bimoraic aa³¹), which would make bimoraicity a condition for<br />

underlying contours as well.


A Tonal Taxonomy of Chungli Ao Verbs<br />

→ a²kuŋ² -əɹ³¹ ‘crows’<br />

HTS |<br />

M H L<br />

In deriving the preterite, which is simply an unsuffixed stem, the floating M<br />

undergoes application of tone fusion during the word-level cycle:<br />

(23) a- /kuŋ/ → /akuŋ/ → a²kuŋ² ‘crowed’<br />

| | fusion fusion<br />

M M M (linked tones) M M (all tones) M<br />

Class 2 is thus unique among the classes, because the fusion of the stem-final<br />

floating M tone results in the tonal structure of Class 2 preterite forms being<br />

distinct from that of the bare stems.<br />

4.3.3. Trigger-suffixes<br />

When a Class 2 verb stem is concatenated with the imperative suffix /-aŋ M /, the<br />

floating M is simply fused with the underlying M tones of the stem and /-aŋ M /,<br />

respectively:<br />

(24) /ɹəpɹaŋ/ -aŋ → ɹəp²ɹaŋ²-aŋ² ‘watch!’<br />

| fusion<br />

M M M M<br />

When the verb stem is concatenated with present-perfect /-u H ku M / or<br />

immediate /-taɹ HL /, the floating M cannot delink the suffixal H 22 , and<br />

consequently fuses with the stem tone:<br />

(25) /ɹəpɹaŋ/ -u ku → ɹəp²ɹaŋ² -u³ku² ‘has watched’<br />

| | fusion | |<br />

M M H M M H M<br />

(26) /ɹəpɹaŋ/ -taɹ → ɹəp²ɹaŋ² -taɹ³¹ ‘is now watching’<br />

fusion<br />

M M H L M H L<br />

4.4. Class 3 (M.M ~ H.H)<br />

4.4.1. Stem, irrealis, & present<br />

Class 3 consists of disyllabic verb stems and shares the M.M tone pattern of<br />

Class 2. A few Class 3 stems bear M.H patterns (e.g. sa²juʔ³ ‘taught’), but this<br />

22 Perhaps due to a lack of MTS (Mid-tone spreading) in the language or a disinclination for H<br />

tones to delink.<br />

17


18<br />

<strong>Daniel</strong> <strong>Bruhn</strong><br />

rise in pitch may be a phonetic effect of the increased tension in the vocal folds<br />

due to a stem-final glottal stop (cf. Halle & Stevens 1971; Abramson 2004).<br />

Class 3 stems differ from Class 2 in that the underlying M.M pattern surfaces<br />

as H.H when the stem is concatenated with the irrealis /-tsə L / or present /-əɹ L /<br />

suffix, as exemplified in the following table:<br />

Stem Preterite (M.M) Irrealis & present (H.H-L)<br />

/a M lən M /<br />

‘tie’<br />

/mə M nak M /<br />

‘lick’<br />

a²lən²<br />

‘tied’<br />

mə²nak²<br />

‘licked’<br />

a³ləəəən³ a³l a³l a³l n³-tsə¹ n³ n³ ‘tie-IRR’<br />

a³ləəəən³ a³l a³l a³l n³-əɹ¹ n³ n³ ‘ties’<br />

mmmməəəə³nak³ ³nak³ ³nak³-tsə¹ ³nak³ ‘lick-IRR’<br />

mmmməəəə³nak³ ³nak³ ³nak³-əɹ¹ ³nak³ ‘licks’<br />

Table 18. Class 3 verb stem examples<br />

This appearance of H.H on the suffixed stem is likely a result of upstep<br />

activated by the adjacency of M with the suffixal L, as illustrated below.<br />

(27) /mənak/ -tsə → mə³nak³ -tsə¹ ‘lick-IRR’<br />

| upstep |<br />

M L H L<br />

A-stems, such as /a M -tʃəp M / ‘cut’ in the following example, undergo an initial<br />

stem-level cycle in which the a-prefix combines with the root to form the stem,<br />

fusing their respective M tones. The output of this derivation is then concatenated<br />

with the L-bearing irrealis suffix, and both syllables of the stem undergo upstep<br />

to H, since they are linked to the same M tone at that point in the derivation:<br />

(28) a- /tʃəp/ → /a-tʃəp/ -tsə → a³-tʃəp³ -tsə¹ ‘cry-IRR’<br />

| | fusion | upstep |<br />

M M M L<br />

H L<br />

The tonological sequence depicted for the irrealis /-tsə L / above is identical to<br />

that for the present /-əɹ L /, illustrated below:<br />

(29) a- /tʃəp/ → /a-tʃəp/ -əɹ → a³-tʃəp³ -əɹ¹ ‘cries’<br />

| | fusion | upstep |<br />

M M M L<br />

H L<br />

One complication observed in Class 3 is the fact that, while most of the<br />

irrealis and present forms are H.H-L, some verbs show variability between M.M-<br />

L and H.H-L tone patterns. This variability essentially boils down to whether or<br />

not upstep applies where expected.<br />

The presence of non-upstepped M.M-L forms suggests that the factors which<br />

activate upstep are more complicated than a simple M-L tone sequence.


A Tonal Taxonomy of Chungli Ao Verbs<br />

According to our consultant, whether irrealis/present forms are produced as<br />

M.M-L or H.H-L can depend on the village from which the speaker hails. There<br />

is some evidence from his own speech, however, that this alternation is related to<br />

the final tone of an immediately-preceding word: A tonally-variable irrealis or<br />

present form bears M.M-L after a word ending in a L tone, shown in examples<br />

(30) & (31), but bears H.H-L after a word ending in M ((32) & (33)):<br />

(30) M L M.M-L<br />

pai² tʃiʔ¹ mə²tʃak²-tsə¹<br />

3SG.M rice chew-IRR<br />

‘He will chew rice.’<br />

(31) M M L M.M-L<br />

la² ku² ka¹ a²-tak²-əɹ¹<br />

3SG.F basket one weave-PRES<br />

‘She weaves one basket.’<br />

(32) M M.M H.H-L<br />

pai² mən²ti² mə³tʃak³-tsə¹<br />

3SG.M corn chew-IRR<br />

‘He will chew corn.’<br />

(33) M M H.H-L<br />

la² ku² a³-tak³-əɹ¹<br />

3SG.F basket weave-PRES<br />

‘She weaves baskets/a basket.’<br />

Although the data is insufficient for a definitive conclusion, the correlation in<br />

(30)-(33) suggests that the activation of upstep may be influenced by the need to<br />

show tonal contrast between the verb stem and the immediately-preceding<br />

word 23 . In (30) & (31), the M.M tone pattern on the verb stem is high enough to<br />

differentiate it from L on the preceding word. In (32) & (33), however, upstep<br />

must apply on the verb stem (raising it to H.H) to distinguish it from the<br />

preceding M. Verification of this hypothesis, however, requires a systematic<br />

investigation of the M.M-L/H.H-L variability in Class 3 verbs, which is beyond<br />

the scope of this paper.<br />

23 If this is true, then upstep is a process which is sensitive to larger scale than tonological<br />

derivations at the word-level, since its activation is affected by a tone pattern on the other side<br />

of a word boundary.<br />

19


20<br />

4.4.2. Trigger-suffixes<br />

<strong>Daniel</strong> <strong>Bruhn</strong><br />

As with Class 1, Class 3 verb stems undergo tonal alternations upon<br />

concatenation with a trigger-suffix. The two A-stem subclasses are shown in the<br />

following table:<br />

Example:<br />

Stem type Alternate stem tone stem trigger-suffixed<br />

3A1 L<br />

3A2 M<br />

/a M -təm M /<br />

‘wrap’<br />

/a M -tʃəp M /<br />

‘cry’<br />

Table 19. Class 3 A-stem subclasses<br />

-ttttəəəəmmmm¹¹¹¹-taɹ³¹ ‘is now wrapping’<br />

-ttttəəəəmmmm¹¹¹¹-aŋ² ‘wrap!’<br />

-ttttəəəəmmmm¹¹¹¹-u³ku² ‘has wrapped’<br />

-ttttʃʃʃʃəəəəpppp²²²²-taɹ³¹ ‘is now crying’<br />

-ttttʃʃʃʃəəəəpppp²²²²-aŋ² ‘cry!’<br />

-ttttʃʃʃʃəəəəpppp²²²²-u³ku² ‘has cried’<br />

Most 3A stems are of type 3A2, preserving the M tone on their de-prefixed<br />

roots. Type 3A1 is unambiguously populated by only one verb stem (/aM-təmM /<br />

‘wrap’), while a single chimera stem (/aM-tʃənM / ‘escape’) alternates between 3A1<br />

& 3A2 for its three trigger-suffixed forms (-ttttʃə ʃən² ʃə ʃən²-taɹ³¹<br />

n² n² ‘is now<br />

escaping’, -ttttʃə ʃən¹ ʃə ʃən¹-aŋ²<br />

n¹ n¹ ‘escape!’, -ttttʃə ʃən¹ ʃə ʃən¹-u³ku²<br />

n¹ n¹ ‘has escaped’).<br />

The trigger-suffixed B-stems fall into three subclasses. (Note that L.L and<br />

L.M are treated as belonging to the same subclass, as discussed in Section 4.2.3.)<br />

Example:<br />

Subclass Alternate stem tone stem trigger-suffixed<br />

3B1 L.L / L.M<br />

3B2 M.M<br />

3B3 H.H<br />

/a M tsək M /<br />

‘hide’<br />

/mə M tʃak M /<br />

‘chew’<br />

/mə M tʃaŋ M /<br />

‘sleep’<br />

(chimera)<br />

Table 20. Class 3 B-stem subclasses<br />

aaaa¹¹¹¹ts tsəəəəkkkk¹¹¹¹-taɹ³¹ ts ts<br />

‘is now hiding’<br />

a¹ts a¹ a¹ a¹ tsəəəək² ts ts k²-aŋ² k² k²<br />

‘hide!’<br />

a¹ts a¹ a¹ a¹ tsəəəəkkkk¹¹¹¹-u³ku² ts ts<br />

‘has hidden’<br />

mmmməəəə²²²²ttttʃʃʃʃak ak²²²²-taɹ³¹ ak ak<br />

‘is now chewing’<br />

mmmməəəə²²²²ttttʃʃʃʃak ak²²²²-aŋ² ak ak<br />

‘chew!’<br />

mmmməəəə²t ²tʃʃʃʃak ²t ²t ak²²²²-u³ku² ak ak<br />

‘has chewed’<br />

mə²tʃaŋ²-taɹ³¹ ‘is now sleeping’<br />

mmmməəəə³t ³tʃʃʃʃaaaaŋŋŋŋ³³³³-aŋ² ³t ³t<br />

‘sleep!’<br />

mə²tʃaŋ²-u³ku² ‘has slept’<br />

An unusual feature of 3B stems is that the 3B3 alternate stem pattern (H.H)<br />

only appears on imperatives. Each 3B3 verb stem, therefore, is a chimera: its


A Tonal Taxonomy of Chungli Ao Verbs<br />

immediate-present and present-perfect forms belong to other subclasses. In Class<br />

3, all the chimera B-stems mirror the behaviour of /mə M tʃaŋ M / ‘sleep’ as<br />

illustrated in the table above. Their imperative-suffixed forms exhibit the 3B3<br />

pattern (H.H), while their other two trigger-suffixed forms belong to type 3B2<br />

(preserving the underlying M.M stem tone pattern).<br />

5. DERIVATION <strong>OF</strong> VOWEL-FINAL STEMS<br />

5.1. Introduction<br />

A certain set of verbs that requires special consideration consists of those whose<br />

stems end in a vowel or a glottal stop 24 . When such a stem is combined with the<br />

present suffix /-əɹ L /, the schwa of the suffix disappears (presumably as a repair<br />

for vowel hiatus). The remaining [-ɹ L ] coalesces with the stem-final vowel, as<br />

illustrated in the following examples (syllable boundaries are denoted with<br />

periods):<br />

(34) /a H -.tuʔ L / -əɹ L → a³.tuɹ¹ ‘digs’ (Class 1)<br />

(35) /a H .saʔ L / -əɹ L → a³.saɹ¹ ‘shouts’ (Class 1)<br />

(36) /a M -i M / -əɹ L → a².iɹ³¹ ‘goes in’ (Class 2)<br />

(37) /a M -u M / -əɹ L → a².uɹ³¹ ‘goes’ (Class 2)<br />

(38) /tʃa M .tʃa M / -əɹ L → tʃa².tʃaɹ³¹ ‘walks’ (Class 2)<br />

(39) /tʃəm M .piʔ M / -əɹ L → tʃəm².piɹ³¹ ‘speaks’ (Class 3)<br />

(40) /mu M .lu M / -əɹ L → mu².luɹ³¹ ‘boils (vt.)’ (Class 3)<br />

As seen in examples (34) and (35), Class 1 verbs exhibit straightforward tonal<br />

effects as a result of this coalescence: [-ɹ L ] is concatenated with the H(.)L stem<br />

and the final two L tones are fused. The resulting H(.)L tone pattern is thus<br />

identical to that of the original stem.<br />

The vowel-final Class 2 and Class 3 stems, on the other hand, show behaviour<br />

which requires additional analysis. These verbs all surface as M.HL in the<br />

present. While the H tone in the HL contour on the Class 2 verbs could be<br />

attributed to upstep of the floating M (see Section 4.3.2), the Class 3 tone<br />

patterns are less easily explained. We must answer the question of why these<br />

vowel-final stems do not undergo upstep on both of their syllables, as depicted<br />

below:<br />

(41) /mulu/ -əɹ → /mulu-ɹ/ → *mu³luɹ³¹ ‘boils (vt.)’<br />

| upstep | actual: mu²luɹ³¹<br />

M L<br />

H L<br />

24 Stem-final glottal stops disappear upon suffixation, causing glottal-final stems to pattern with<br />

vowel-final stems.<br />

21


22<br />

5.2. Class 3 derivation<br />

<strong>Daniel</strong> <strong>Bruhn</strong><br />

Since the derivational process developed for Class 3 verbs has implications for<br />

Class 2, we will begin with Class 3, choosing an A-stem (which requires an extra<br />

initial derivational cycle) to produce the most comprehensive procedure<br />

possible 25 .<br />

The first stage in deriving the Class 3 verb a²tʃiɹ³¹ ‘eats’ attaches the a-prefix<br />

to the root and fuses the M tones to form the A-stem:<br />

i. a- /tʃiʔ/ → /a.tʃiʔ/<br />

| | fusion<br />

M M M<br />

The stem /a M tʃiʔ M / is then combined with the present suffix /-əɹ L /. The glottal<br />

stop disappears and the schwa of the present suffix is deleted to repair vowel<br />

hiatus, coalescing the suffix with the final syllable of the stem:<br />

ii. /a.tʃiʔ/ -əɹ → /a.tʃiɹ/<br />

| ʔ-deletion<br />

M L ə-deletion M L<br />

The result of these purely segmental processes is then passed as the input to<br />

the tonological system. Since a M-L sequence exists in this input, upstep is<br />

activated to raise M to H before L:<br />

iii. /a.tʃiɹ/ → /a.tʃiɹ/<br />

upstep<br />

M L H L<br />

At this point, a new constraint must be proposed for Chungli Ao, which<br />

militates against representations of the following type:<br />

σ σ<br />

| |<br />

T 1 T 2<br />

In the illicit representation above, a single tone (T1) serves as both the level tone<br />

in one syllable and the first half of a contour in the following syllable. No items<br />

discovered thus far in Chungli Ao bear this type of tonal structure, supporting the<br />

idea that a language-wide constraint forbids it 26 .<br />

25 As very little research has been conducted on the Chungli Ao tone system, the tentative<br />

derivation presented here is subject to revision as additional data is analysed.<br />

26 There are therefore no sequences of two syllables with the tone patterns L.LM, L.LH, M.ML,<br />

M.MH, H.HM, or H.HL, although sequences like LM.M (in which the second tone is doublylinked)<br />

do exist (e.g. su¹²ʃi² ‘clothes’).


A Tonal Taxonomy of Chungli Ao Verbs<br />

Depicted below are the possible repairs to satisfy this constraint, in which (a)<br />

the first tone is delinked from the second syllable, (b) the second tone is delinked<br />

from its syllable, or (c) the first tone is copied, with its copy retaining the link to<br />

the second syllable:<br />

(a) σ σ (b) σ σ (c) σ σ<br />

| | | = | |<br />

T 1 T 2 T 1 T 2 T 1 T 1 T 2<br />

It is not unreasonable to assume that a constraint like *DISASSOCIATE (Yip 2002:<br />

83) might rank highly in Chungli Ao, militating against the removal of<br />

association lines and thus forcing the repair shown in (c) above.<br />

Returning to our derivation of a²tʃiɹ³¹, the next step applies the<br />

aforementioned repair to copy the upstepped H tone:<br />

iv. /a.tʃiɹ/ → /a. tʃiɹ/<br />

repair structure |<br />

H L H H L<br />

Having conceptualized upstep as a “magnetic force” active at every step in the<br />

derivation (Section 3.2), we now extend the metaphor by proposing the following<br />

additional detail: Upstep is “undone” when the upstepped H tone becomes<br />

separated from its following L by some process. With the opposing force gone,<br />

the H tone is free to sink back down to M. In the current derivation, therefore, the<br />

H tone linked to /a/ reverts to M, yielding the expected output:<br />

v. /a. tʃiɹ/ → a²tʃir³¹ ‘eats’<br />

| reversion |<br />

H H L M H L<br />

5.3. Class 2 derivation<br />

The same sequence of steps applies to the Class 2 vowel-final verbs, which differ<br />

from Class 3 in the presence of a floating M tone. The derivation of Class 2<br />

a²tuɹ³¹ ‘goes up’ is discussed below.<br />

The first stage combines the a-prefix with the root and fuses the linked M<br />

tones to form the A-stem. (Recall that floating tones are disregarded by the stemlevel<br />

tone-fusion process). For clarity, the floating tone will be represented in<br />

italics throughout this derivation:<br />

i. a- /tu/ → /a.tu/<br />

| | fusion<br />

M M M M M<br />

23


24<br />

<strong>Daniel</strong> <strong>Bruhn</strong><br />

The stem /a M tu M / is then combined with the present suffix /-əɹ L /. The schwa of<br />

the present suffix is deleted to repair vowel hiatus, coalescing the suffix with the<br />

final syllable of the stem. The floating M is thus sandwiched between two linked<br />

tones:<br />

ii. /a.tu/ -əɹ → /a.tuɹ/<br />

| ə-deletion<br />

M M L M M L<br />

The output of this segmental process is then presented to the tonological<br />

system, which first upsteps the floating M to H before L (thereby bleeding<br />

potential fusion of the two M tones):<br />

iii. /a.tuɹ/ → /a.tuɹ/<br />

upstep<br />

M M L M HHHH L<br />

The illicit tonal structure is then repaired. Instead of simply copying the M<br />

tone, however, we propose that a “smart repair” is enacted, avoiding wasteful<br />

copying by detaching the second association line from the M tone and reattaching<br />

it to the floating H, yielding the final output 27 . This operation bleeds Htone<br />

spreading that would have delinked the L:<br />

iv. /a.tuɹ/ → a² tuɹ³¹ ‘goes up’<br />

repair structure |<br />

M HHHH L M H L<br />

The same sequence of tonological processes therefore applies to both Class 2<br />

and Class 3 vowel-final stems to derive the M.HL tone pattern of their presentsuffixed<br />

forms.<br />

5.4. Summary of tonal processes<br />

The tonal processes utilized in this section (and the paper as a whole) are<br />

summarized below. Example derivations presented in the paper all conform to the<br />

following scheme:<br />

Unordered Processes (activated at any stage in the derivation)<br />

Upstep: Raises M to H whenever a M-L sequence appears in the input.<br />

Upstep Reversion: Reverts an upstepped H to M whenever L no longer follows it.<br />

27 The “smart structure-repair” step proposed here is obviously a speculative one and is open to<br />

revision, since it is an attempt to describe the inner workings of an admittedly perplexing stage<br />

in the derivation. Alternative analyses are certainly welcome.


A Tonal Taxonomy of Chungli Ao Verbs<br />

HTS (High-Tone Spreading): Spreads a floating H to the right whenever it<br />

appears in the input.<br />

Ordered Processes (cyclically-applied first to the stem, then to the suffixed word)<br />

1. Tone Fusion: Fuses all adjacent identical tones (to satisfy the OCP). During<br />

the stem-level cycle, floating tones are ignored by this operation.<br />

2. Structure Repair: Repairs illicit tonal structure in disyllables (see Section 5.2)<br />

while preserving association lines, by copying the first tone or reattaching the<br />

second association line to a floating tone.<br />

6. CONCLUSION<br />

If the language of Chungli Ao could “tell its story” (cf. Rice 2006), the verb<br />

system would no doubt constitute its own volume, filled with complex subplots<br />

and unexpected plot twists. Since it is clear that the current state of research on<br />

Chungli Ao verbs is not yet to the point of producing a unified “narrative,” the<br />

aim of this investigation into verb classes has been to present a comprehensive<br />

descriptive picture of the tonal phenomena observed in Chungli Ao. By<br />

developing a taxonomy of verb stems here, however, we have indeed constructed<br />

the foundation of such a narrative. In addition, the description of subclasses, the<br />

identification of floating tones, the proposal of particular tonal processes, and the<br />

examination of vowel-final stems all serve to fill in various details of this<br />

framework. As research on Chungli Ao continues, this analysis will be expanded<br />

and refined as it seeks to capture the tonal behaviour of other aspects of Chungli<br />

Ao verbal morphology, including prefixes, lexical suffixes, derivational suffixes,<br />

modals, converb suffixes, and multiple-suffix combinations. Such research will<br />

also aid historical-comparative work to better understand the “Naga” languages –<br />

an enterprise which is still very much in its infancy.<br />

REFERENCES<br />

Abramson, Arthur S. 2004. The plausibility of phonetic explanations of<br />

tonogenesis. In Gunnar Fant, Hiroya Fujisaki, Jianfen Cao, and Yi Xu (eds.),<br />

From traditional phonology to modern speech processing: Festschrift for<br />

Professor Wu Zongji’s 95 th birthday, 17-29. Beijing: Foreign Language<br />

Teaching and Research Press.<br />

Avery, John. 1886. The Ao Naga language of southern Assam. The American<br />

Journal of Philology 7(3).344-366.<br />

Burling, Robbins. 2003. The Tibeto-Burman Languages of Northeastern India. In<br />

Graham Thurgood and Randy J. LaPolla (eds.), The Sino-Tibetan Languages,<br />

169-191. London, New York: Routledge.<br />

Clark, Mrs. E. W. [Mary M. Clark]. 1893. Ao Naga grammar with illustrative<br />

phrases and vocabulary. Shillong: Assam Secretariat Printing Department.<br />

Clark, E. W. 1911. Ao-Naga dictionary. Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press.<br />

25


26<br />

<strong>Daniel</strong> <strong>Bruhn</strong><br />

Coupe, A. R. 2003. A phonetic and phonological description of Ao: A Tibeto-<br />

Burman language of Nagaland, north-east India. Canberra: Pacific<br />

Linguistics.<br />

Coupe, A. R. 2007. A grammar of Mongsen Ao. Berlin, New York: Mouton de<br />

Gruyter.<br />

Coupe, A. R. 2008. Transitivity in Ao and other languages of Nagaland. Paper<br />

presented at the Local Workshop on Transitivity, RCLT, La Trobe University,<br />

October 30, 2008.<br />

Goldsmith, John. 1976a. Autosegmental phonology. Cambridge, MA:<br />

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Ph.D. dissertation.<br />

Goldsmith, John. 1976b. An overview of autosegmental phonology. Linguistic<br />

Analysis 2.23-68.<br />

Gowda, K. S. Gurubasave. 1972. Ao-Naga phonetic reader. Mysore: Central<br />

Institute of Indian Languages.<br />

Gowda, K. S. Gurubasave. 1975. Ao grammar. Mysore: Central Institute of<br />

Indian Languages.<br />

Halle, Morris & Kenneth N. Stevens. 1971. A note on laryngeal features. MIT<br />

Research Laboratory of Electronics Quarterly Progress Report 101.198-213.<br />

Hyman, Larry M. 2001. Privative tone in Bantu. In Shigeki Kaji (ed.), Crosslinguistic<br />

studies of tonal phenomena: Tonogenesis, Japanese accentology,<br />

and other topics, 237-257. Tokyo: Institute for the Study of Languages and<br />

Cultures.<br />

Hyman, Larry M. 2007. Kuki-Thaadow: An African tone system in Southeast<br />

Asia. UC Berkeley Phonology Lab Annual Report (2007),<br />

http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/phonlab/annual_report/documents/2007/Hyman<br />

_KT_Tone_PL_Annual.pdf.<br />

Matisoff, James A. 2003. Handbook of Proto-Tibeto-Burman: System and<br />

philosophy of Sino-Tibetan reconstruction. Berkeley, Los Angeles: University<br />

of California Press.<br />

Meyer, Ernst A. 1896-1897. Zur Tonbewegung des Vokals im gesprochenen und<br />

gesungenen einzelwort. Phonetische Studien (Beiblatt zu der Zeitschrift Die<br />

Neuren Sprachen) 10.1-21.<br />

Rhodes, Russell. 2009. Lexical Tone in Chungli Ao. Berkeley, CA: Unpublished<br />

UC Berkeley ms.<br />

Rice, Keren. 2006. Let the language tell its story? The role of linguistic theory in<br />

writing grammars. In Felix K. Ameka, Alan Dench, and Nicholas Evans<br />

(eds.), Catching language: The standing challenge of grammar writing, 235-<br />

268. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.<br />

Thomas, Elaine. 1974. Engenni. In John Bendor-Samuel (ed.), Ten Nigerian tone<br />

systems, 13-26. Jos, Kano, Nigeria: Institute of Linguistics & Centre for the<br />

Study of Nigerian Languages.<br />

Thomas, Elaine. 1978. A grammatical description of the Engenni language.<br />

Arlington, TX: University of Texas at Arlington and Summer Institute of<br />

Linguistics.


A Tonal Taxonomy of Chungli Ao Verbs<br />

Whalen, D. H. & Andrea G. Levitt. 1995. The universality of intrinsic F0 of<br />

vowels. Journal of Phonetics 23(3).349-366.<br />

Yip, Moira. 2002. Tone. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.<br />

27


28<br />

<strong>Daniel</strong> <strong>Bruhn</strong><br />

APPENDIX A: GLOSSARY<br />

A-stem: A verb stem consisting of the a-prefix plus a verb root.<br />

e.g. /a M -ʃi M / ‘say’<br />

B-stem: A verb stem consisting of a solitary verb root.<br />

e.g. /pu M ʃi M / ‘search for’<br />

Chimera: A verb which exhibits different stem tone patterns for each<br />

trigger-suffix, and thus belongs to multiple subclasses.<br />

De-prefixed root: An A-stem that has been stripped of its a-prefix and appears<br />

as a solitary verb root.<br />

Trigger-suffix: Any suffix that, when combined with a verb stem, triggers<br />

loss of the a-prefix and a tonal alternation in the stem (e.g.<br />

immediate-present /-taɹ³¹/, imperative /-aŋ²/, and presentperfect<br />

/-u³ku²/).<br />

Upstep: The tonal process by which M is raised to H whenever L<br />

follows it at any stage in a derivation. This effect is reversed<br />

when the triggering L no longer follows the upstepped tone.


A Tonal Taxonomy of Chungli Ao Verbs<br />

APPENDIX B: SUMMARY TABLES<br />

The following tables summarize the tonal taxonomy of stem classes and<br />

subclasses developed for Chungli Ao verbs. Table 21 presents the tone patterns<br />

of the three classes as they pertain to bare stem, preterite, irrealis, and present<br />

verb forms. Table 22 displays the alternate stem tone patterns of each subclass<br />

under trigger-suffixation. (Periods represent syllable boundaries, while dashes<br />

indicate stem-suffix boundaries.)<br />

Form Class 1 Class 2 Class 3<br />

Bare Stem<br />

(underlying tones)<br />

Unsuffixed Stem<br />

(preterite)<br />

Stem+ /-tsə L /<br />

(irrealis)<br />

Stem+ /-əɹ L /<br />

(present)<br />

H(.)L<br />

M(.M) / L(.)M<br />

+ floating M<br />

M.M<br />

H(.)L M(.M) / L(.)M M.M<br />

H(.)L-L M(.M)-H / L(.)M-H H.H-L / M.M-L<br />

H(.)L-L M(.M)-HL / L(.)M-HL H.H-L / M.M-L / M-HL<br />

Table 21. Tone patterns of verb stem classes<br />

29


30<br />

<strong>Daniel</strong> <strong>Bruhn</strong><br />

Class Stem tone Alternate stem tone (trigger-suffixed)<br />

1 H(.)L<br />

2 M(.M) / L(.)M<br />

3 M.M<br />

A-stems<br />

B-stems<br />

A-stems M<br />

1A1:<br />

1A2:<br />

1B1:<br />

1B2:<br />

1B3:<br />

L<br />

M<br />

B-stems M(.M) / L(.)M<br />

A-stems<br />

B-stems<br />

3A1:<br />

3A2:<br />

3B1:<br />

3B2:<br />

3B3:<br />

L(.)L / L(.)M<br />

M(.M)<br />

H(.)L / H(.)M<br />

L<br />

M<br />

L.L / L.M<br />

M.M<br />

H.H<br />

Table 22. Alternate stem tone patterns under trigger-suffixation


A Tonal Taxonomy of Chungli Ao Verbs<br />

APPENDIX C: VERB CORPUS<br />

The corpus of 204 verbs used in this research is laid out in the following tables,<br />

with their stem types and alternate stem tone patterns under trigger-suffixation.<br />

Double-dashes (--) indicate that a form does not exist, while numbers separated<br />

by slashes (/) in the stem type designate the various subclasses to which a<br />

chimera verb belongs. For example, the chimeric Class 1 A-stem /a H -ju L / ‘put’ is<br />

classified as 1A1/2/2, which means that its imperative form belongs to Subclass<br />

1, while its immediate-present and present-perfect forms belong to Subclass 2.<br />

Table 23 lists the 86 Class 1 verb stems (all H.L or HL):<br />

Alternate stem tone pattern:<br />

Stem Gloss Stem type imperative immed.pres pres.perf<br />

aɹən/a-ɹən? prosper 1(?)(?) ? ? ?<br />

asən/a-sən? pound (e.g. grain) 1(?)(?) ? ? ?<br />

a-ka fire a firearm 1A(?) ? ? ?<br />

a-taŋ block, stop up 1A(?) ? ? ?<br />

a-tən join, participate 1A(?) ? ? ?<br />

a-təp hit w/ stick 1A(?) ? ? ?<br />

a-tsək get injured 1A(?) ? ? ?<br />

a-tuŋ arrive 1A(?) ? ? ?<br />

a-wak swell, be swollen 1A(?) ? ? ?<br />

a-zəŋ read 1A(?) ? ? ?<br />

a-ʃiʔ know 1A1 -- L L<br />

a-mən sit down 1A1 L L L<br />

a-nən choke (strangle) 1A1 L L L<br />

a-ŋu see 1A1 -- L L<br />

a-sə do, happen 1A1 L L L<br />

a-səm put on (clothes) 1A1 L L L<br />

a-maʔ slap 1A1/--/2 L -- M<br />

a-su be born/give birth 1A1/1/2 L L M<br />

a-suʔ chop (firewood) 1A1/1/2 L L M<br />

a-ɹaŋ cut (e.g. finger) 1A1/2/1 L M L<br />

a-ju put 1A1/2/2 L M M<br />

a-ʃi close 1A2 M M M<br />

a-ʃi wash 1A2 M M M<br />

a-ʃiʔ rot 1A2 -- M M<br />

a-ləp cut 1A2 M M M<br />

a-lət scald/get drunk 1A2 M M M<br />

a-luk limp 1A2 M -- --<br />

a-muk brood (sit on eggs) 1A2 M M M<br />

a-naʔ urinate 1A2 M M M<br />

a-ŋu be painful 1A2 -- M M<br />

a-ŋuʔ bite 1A2 M M M<br />

a-puʔ catch 1A2 M M M<br />

a-sək feel cold 1A2 -- -- M<br />

31


32<br />

<strong>Daniel</strong> <strong>Bruhn</strong><br />

Alternate stem tone pattern:<br />

Stem Gloss Stem type imperative immed.pres pres.perf<br />

a-səp put in a bag, pack 1A2 M M M<br />

a-tuʔ dig 1A2 M M M<br />

a-waʔ swim 1A2 M M M<br />

a-zək hit, beat 1A2 M M M<br />

a-saŋ bark 1A2/1/1 M L L<br />

ənuk put 1B(?) ? ? ?<br />

jimla hope 1B(?) ? ? ?<br />

jiɹu get hurt 1B(?) ? ? ?<br />

juk send 1B(?) ? ? ?<br />

juŋtaŋ block, obstruct 1B(?) ? ? ?<br />

kasət shoot to death 1B(?) ? ? ?<br />

kəlak deceive 1B(?) ? ? ?<br />

lapuk open 1B(?) ? ? ?<br />

məjip/məjəp? turn back 1B(?) ? ? ?<br />

məkəp overturn 1B(?) ? ? ?<br />

məsək resemble 1B(?) ? ? ?<br />

ait come in 1B1 L L L<br />

akət cough 1B1 L.L -- L.M<br />

alu come down 1B1 L L.L L.M<br />

aɹak drown, choke 1B1 L.L L.L L.M<br />

aɹu come 1B1 L L.L L.M<br />

atsəʔ pull 1B1 L.L -- --<br />

atu come up 1B1 L L.L L.M<br />

atuk come out 1B1 L.L L.L L.L<br />

ʃipaŋ close 1B1 L.L L.L L.L<br />

kilak tickle 1B1 L.L -- L.L<br />

piləm think 1B1 L.L L.L L.M<br />

sak awake, wake up (vi.) 1B1 LM LM LM<br />

saktsə vomit 1B1 -- -- L.M<br />

samaʔ lose 1B1 -- L.M L.M<br />

tʃiku shower, bathe 1B1 L.L L.L L.M<br />

təpsət kill 1B1 L.L L.L L.L<br />

zəlu write 1B1 L.L L.L L.M<br />

a earn 1B1/3/1 L HM LM<br />

ak feel shy 1B2 L L L<br />

məʃiʔ ask, request 1B2 M.M M.M M.M<br />

məsak be itchy/promiscuous 1B2 -- M.M --<br />

məsəp suck 1B2 M.M M.M M.M<br />

pəɹəp twist 1B2 M.M -- M.M<br />

ratət explain 1B2 M.M M.M M.M<br />

tənzək begin 1B2 M.M M.M M.M<br />

mətsək pinch 1B2/3/2 M.M H.M M.M<br />

alaŋ trip & fall 1B3 H.L H.M H.L<br />

aliʔ buy 1B3 H.M H.M H.M<br />

am hold 1B3 HM HM HM<br />

anən cease 1B3 H.M H.M H.M<br />

asaʔ shout, make noise 1B3 H.L H.M H.M<br />

injak do, work 1B3 H.L H.L H.L


A Tonal Taxonomy of Chungli Ao Verbs<br />

Alternate stem tone pattern:<br />

Stem Gloss Stem type imperative immed.pres pres.perf<br />

məsu lift up 1B3 H.L H.M H.L<br />

mətən be acquitted 1B3 -- -- H.M<br />

mətsəʔ kick 1B3 H.L H.M H.M<br />

tsək fall down 1B3 -- HM HM<br />

məsə comb/lure 1B3/2/3 H.L M.M H.L<br />

Table 23. Class 1 verbs<br />

Table 24 lists the 78 Class 2 verbs, including their stem tones:<br />

Stem Gloss Stem tone Stem type<br />

anəm/a-nəm? press down M.M 2(?)<br />

asaja/a-saja? play (a sport) M.M.M 2(?)<br />

a-ʃi say M.M 2A<br />

a-ʃi be painful M.M 2A<br />

a-i go in M 2A<br />

a-jəm fly/flow M.M 2A<br />

a-kəm become M.M 2A<br />

a-kuŋ crow M.M 2A<br />

a-ləm hand out M.M 2A<br />

a-li be, live M.M 2A<br />

a-lu go down M.M 2A<br />

a-luŋ spin, turn, roll M.M 2A<br />

a-mən ripen, cook (vi.) M.M 2A<br />

a-nəm push, press M.M 2A<br />

a-nuŋ push M.M 2A<br />

a-pən carry (with hands) M.M 2A<br />

a-pu blow M.M 2A<br />

a-puŋ sprout M.M 2A<br />

a-puŋ carry (children) on back M.M 2A<br />

a-ɹəm bury/bear M.M 2A<br />

a-ɹuŋ burn with fire M.M 2A<br />

a-saŋ bake M.M 2A<br />

a-sə die M.M 2A<br />

a-sən leak, drip M.M 2A<br />

a-səŋ fill, be full M.M 2A<br />

a-su cook M.M 2A<br />

a-taŋ bear (fruit) M.M 2A<br />

a-tʃa heat up, boil (stative?) M.M 2A<br />

a-tʃa call M.M 2A<br />

a-tʃəm drink M.M 2A<br />

a-təm plant M.M 2A<br />

a-təm end, finish M.M 2A<br />

a-tən sing M.M 2A<br />

a-tsəŋ punch M.M 2A<br />

a-tu go up M.M 2A<br />

a-u go M 2A<br />

a-un throw at M 2A<br />

33


34<br />

<strong>Daniel</strong> <strong>Bruhn</strong><br />

Stem Gloss Stem tone Stem type<br />

a-uŋ shave M 2A<br />

a(-)laŋ cut in half M.M 2A/B<br />

a(-)səm run M.M 2A/B<br />

aki take M.M/L.M 2B<br />

amaŋ believe M.M 2B<br />

aŋaʔ hear, listen M.M/L.M? 2B<br />

apʰuʔ carry (on shoulder) M.M 2B<br />

aɹ sew M/LM 2B<br />

asəŋtaŋ ask M.M.M 2B<br />

atʃaŋ cross M.M 2B<br />

atʃi stare M.M 2B<br />

atʃuŋ hold, lift M.M/L.M 2B<br />

atʃuɹu meet M.M.M 2B<br />

azəŋ be at leisure M.M 2B<br />

ʃiɹaŋ be sick M.M 2B<br />

jaŋlu create, make M.M 2B<br />

jaɹi help M.M 2B<br />

kazə spend time L.M/M.M 2B<br />

kələm worship M.M 2B<br />

maŋam hold in mouth M.M 2B<br />

maŋmaŋ feel dizzy M.M 2B<br />

mənə laugh, smile M.M 2B<br />

mənəm smell M.M 2B<br />

mənu be late M.M 2B<br />

məɹaŋ try M.M 2B<br />

məsə raise, rear M.M 2B<br />

muluŋ be willing M.M 2B<br />

pala divorce M.M 2B<br />

pəla be happy M.M 2B<br />

pələm be/get tired M.M 2B<br />

pələn change, shift M.M 2B<br />

puʃi search M.M 2B<br />

ɹənəm be/get ready M.M 2B<br />

ɹəpɹaŋ look, watch M.M 2B<br />

saʃi breathe M.M 2B<br />

səmtaŋ visit M.M 2B<br />

səŋmaŋ wonder, be surprised M.M 2B<br />

suɹu cook (rice) M.M 2B<br />

tʃaʃi feel bad M.M 2B<br />

tʃatʃa walk M.M 2B<br />

tsəpu fear M.M 2B<br />

Table 24. Class 2 verbs<br />

Table 25 lists the 40 Class 3 verbs. An asterisk (*) following the stem tone<br />

indicates that the verb belongs to the set of stems whose irrealis/present forms<br />

show M.M-L/H.H-L variability:


A Tonal Taxonomy of Chungli Ao Verbs<br />

Alternate stem tone pattern:<br />

Stem Gloss Stem tone Stem type imperative immed.pres pres.perf<br />

a-kət like M.M * 3A(?) -- -- --<br />

a-kət have M.M 3A(?) ? ? ?<br />

a-nək be soft M.M 3A(?) ? ? ?<br />

a-təm wrap (rice) M.M 3A1 L L L<br />

a-tʃən escape M.M 3A1/2/1 L M L<br />

a-kuk learn/win M.H/M.M * 3A2 M M M<br />

a-tak weave M.M * 3A2 M M M<br />

a-tʃəp cry M.M * 3A2 M M M<br />

a-tʃiʔ eat M.M 3A2 M M M<br />

a-təp paint M.M 3A2 M M M<br />

a-tsək roast M.M 3A2 M M M<br />

pʰua be charmed M.M 3B(?) ? ? ?<br />

amaʔ forget M.M 3B1 L.M -- L.M<br />

apu borrow M.M 3B1 L.M L.M --<br />

atsək hide M.M 3B1 L.M L.L L.L<br />

nuktak stand M.M 3B1 L.M L.M L.M<br />

atʃət grab M.M * 3B1? L.L ? ?<br />

əntuk throw M.M 3B2 M.M M.M M.M<br />

juŋjaʔ long for M.M 3B2 -- M.M --<br />

məjuk swallow M.M 3B2 M.M M.M M.M<br />

mənak lick M.M 3B2 M.M M.M M.M<br />

mənəp catch up M.M * 3B2 M.M M.M M.M<br />

məɹək clean, be clean M.M * 3B2 M.M M.M M.M<br />

mətʃak chew M.M * 3B2 M.M M.M M.M<br />

mətət know M.M 3B2 M.M M.M M.M<br />

anuŋ remain M.M 3B3/--/-- H.H -- --<br />

aniʔ lead M.M 3B3/--/2 H.H -- M.M<br />

ajuŋ organize M.M * 3B3/2/2 H.H M.M M.M<br />

alən tie M.M 3B3/2/2 H.H M.M M.M<br />

ataʔ await M.M/M.H? * 3B3/2/2 H.H M.M M.M<br />

laŋzə respond, reply M.M 3B3/2/2 H.H M.M M.M<br />

məim love M.M * 3B3/2/2 H.H M.M M.M<br />

mələn (ex)change M.M 3B3/2/2 H.H M.M M.M<br />

mənən make dirty, soil M.M 3B3/2/2 H.H M.M M.M<br />

mətʃaŋ sleep M.M/M.H * 3B3/2/2 H.H M.M M.M<br />

mətən get soaked M.M 3B3/2/2 H.H M.M M.M<br />

mulu boil (water; vt.) M.M 3B3/2/2 H.H M.M M.M<br />

puŋmaŋ dream M.M * 3B3/2/2 H.H M.M M.M<br />

sajuʔ teach, show M.H 3B3/2/2 H.H M.M M.M<br />

tʃəmpiʔ speak, talk M.M/M.H? 3B3/2/2 H.H M.M M.M<br />

Table 25. Class 3 verbs<br />

35

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